Judith LaRocque is appointed as interim chair of the CRTC

Canada’s government has named Judith LaRocque as interim chair of federal broadcast and telecoms regulator the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC).

Canada’s government has named Judith LaRocque as interim chair of federal broadcast and telecoms regulator the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC).

LaRocque will be taking over from Jean-Pierre Blais, whose five-year term as chairman came to an end this month. The search for a permanent chair has been ongoing since January and the Canadian Heritage department who are responsible for this have yet to find a permanent person, so LaRocque will hold this position for four months as the search continues.

LaRocque has previously served as acting vice-chair of the CRTC for six months from November 2016 to May 2017. Throughout her career she has held positions in the civil service, as the deputy minister of Heritage, she has worked as secretary to the Governor-General and was most recently as Canada’s ambassador and permanent representative at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development in Paris.

Mélanie Joly the heritage minister released a statement announcing LaRocque’s appointment and commented that leading the CRTC “is a challenging task,” and added “I would like to thank Ms. Larocque for agreeing to stay on the CRTC team as acting chair.”